October 29, 2015
File Art/for PhillyVoice
Student loan debt is a concern for many throughout the Philadelphia region. City Council has approved the creation of a committee to evaluate ways to reduce student loan debt for residents of the city.
On Thursday, the Philadelphia City Council approved the creation of a "special committee on student loan debt" that will evaluate the impact student loan debt has on residents of the city and what can be done to help those struggling under the weight of their debts.
According to City Councilman Dennis O'Brien (R-at large), who introduced a bill to create this committee with Councilman Mark Squilla, (D-1st list.) just how many people will make up the task force and when it would begin to meet aren't yet determined. But, after Thursday's City Council meeting, O'Brien said that, once they come together, the group hopes to address student loan debt concerns facing Philadelphians.
"It's important that we start this," he said.
While, O'Brien admitted that the committee would have no power to tell banks to change loan rates or to change the terms of federal loans, he said that by meeting to discuss the issues that students face when they get into debt for student loans is a step in the right direction.
"People have a lot of great ideas and they need to know that there's someone doing something about that," he said. "Nothing is off the table."
O'Brien said he hopes the committee can address several concerns, like helping to bring people back to Philadelphia who may have grown up here, then left for college and haven't returned.
"We want them to come back and raise a family here," said O'Brien.
Or, he said, helping to generate ideas that could lead to payment plans for students hoping to attend school or savings programs for young parents who want to send their kids to college.
"We need to make that education within people's reach," he said.
As O'Brien discussed the issue, Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown (D-at large) interrupted to ask the councilman if she could be part of the committee, once it is set to be formed.
"On this issue, I'm a cheerleader," she said.
Reynolds Brown said that she has a daughter attending Clemson University, in South Carolina, and said student loan debts are a real concern for today's college students.
"It's big, it's important and it's overdue," she said.
O'Brien agreed, noting that in many cases, he's seen not just students struggling with student loan debt, but also their parents and grandparents who have chipped in and gone into debt to help loved ones afford the rising costs of tuition.
"It's a significant challenge," he said.
Though, O'Brien said, he's excited to get started forming the committee and he hopes that, through open communication, they can help find ways to make college loan debts more manageable, in order to allow more Philadelphians to have the ability to attend college.
"We are at the top of the mountain and, at least, we have some dissection," he said.
